Tuesday, April 08, 2014

Night of the Budweisers! History's Best Bowling Team Screenprint

Here's a new print I made commemorating the best bowling team of all time, St. Louis' Budweisers, and their record-setting high-scoring night Wednesday March 12, 1958.

I wanted to capture as many details from that night as possible -- folksy details, statistical data, relevant logos, bowling marks, cool haircuts etc. -- into the image. Here were some sketches and reference:

Photos of Floriss Lanes (then & now), the North St. Louis bowling alley where it all took place:

The front page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports section the day after, Thursday March 13, 1958. (Thanks to the folks in the SLPL microfiche room for helping me find this):

Final Sketch:

Line art:

Color separations:

A big inspiration to the poster (and my own personal technique) is Budweiser Lead-off bowler Don Carter, specifically this classic book, concisely written by Carter and beautifully illustrated / diagrammed by Anthony Ravielli:

Another big inspiration, which I watched over and over while drawing, were these videos of the Buds' anchor man Dick Weber bowling on 53rd Street outside the David Letterman show. Make sure you stick around to see Dick put a perfect pocket hit on an aquarium full of cottage cheese:

Last night in our Monday Night 'Fun' League, The Handsome Brothers (my team) needed some extra oomph against Team Pancakes so we unfurled one of these prints on the table, was careful not to spill any Bud Light or Schlafly Hefeweizen on it...